


that is the question!

by missdulcerosea



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Love Confessions, Not Canon Compliant, References to Shakespeare, bisexual sayaka miki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23150314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdulcerosea/pseuds/missdulcerosea
Summary: One idyllic Saturday afternoon, Sayaka reads an old play for school. Idle small talk with Mami happens, feelings are confessed.
Relationships: Miki Sayaka/Tomoe Mami
Kudos: 9





	that is the question!

“It’s kinda weird, if I’m being honest.”

The tea kettle whistles merrily, white steam coiling out from the spout. Mami plops a teabag into each mug—though the sun shines bright this March afternoon, the air outside betrays the illusion of coming spring: Outside is cold and bitter compared to in here. Saturday’s a day to rest and forget about the coming week and the week that has passed, but not so for Sayaka Miki. She’s wheedled and begged and spat up excuse after excuse till only two days before the deadline she finally forces herself to sit down and finish reading _Hamlet_.

“What do you mean, Miss Miki?” She pours the steaming water into the mugs after spooning in about a dollop of honey, watching the peppermint tea Sayaka picked out tint the water a murky green.

“Well, I’m talking about Hamlet.”  
Mami has memories of eighth grade, sitting at the front of the class poring over the yellowed copy she’d gotten. And she remembers classmates that scoffed and snickered about Shakespeare being “pretentious” and how they didn’t want to read the works of “some old geezer”. Though she firmly believes when it comes to reading tastes it’s all to each their own, she still holds memories of the colors _Hamlet_ gave her world when she’d first opened it.

“Are you enjoying it?” She sets down the mugs of tea on the table. Sayaka picks up her spoon and begins to stir it, metal clinking against earthenware.

“It’s good! The language is kinda hard to follow at first but then you understand it better as you go along. And what’s actually happening in the play is messed up.”

Mami exhales on her tea to cool it, making ripples—cinnamon-orange with a dash of vanilla, her usual. “I understand that. Shakespeare’s writing is a little hard to follow at first. I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Miss Miki.”

“I don’t know how to feel about Hamlet, though.”

Refreshing orange and warm cinnamon perfume the small, sun-bathed spot in her apartment. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I guess… he’s relatable and I feel _bad_ for him, but he can be stupid sometimes. Like when he stabbed Polonius through a curtain.”

“Oh, yes. That _was_ stupid of him, if I’m being honest.”

“And the worst part is that the version of Hamlet I picture in my head is this really cute boy who’s probably a little older than I am… Like I said, I feel sad for him but he’s also really stupid. Sometimes. I mean he couldn’t have been that stupid to go to university.”

“I think that’s why I disagree so much with the idea that Hamlet was somewhere in his thirties.”

Sayaka gawks over her still-hot tea. “For realz?!”

“Mm-hmm. A lot of scholars have some rather… interesting ideas about Hamlet. Some of them think he was around thirty. I can’t say I agree, though—yes, his age is ambiguous but to have him be around our age makes the choices he makes… not quite forgivable, but understandable.”

“I mean, they say that boys can be really stupid when they’re teenagers.” Sayaka gulps down some tea. “Ah! It’s finally cooled down—this tastes really good, Mami.”

She smiles, sipping lightly and letting the orange-twisted-with-cinnamon flavor unfold in her mouth. “Thank you.”

“But anyways… Hamlet.”

“Yes. What about him?”

“I dunno. There’s a lot of weird theories about him from scholars.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some of them aren’t _that_ weird. A lot of scholars say he has depression or he’s bipolar or something and I can see it. But then there are ones that are just… ewwww.”

_Ah yes. The Oedipus Complex_. Mami closes her eyes when she sips at her tea. “Care to tell me about the more unsavory Hamlet theories?”

“They think he was in love with his _mom_ and he was jealous. That’s just gross!”

Mami gags on her tea, breaking the facade of formality for a millisecond. “Yep, that’s realllly gross. Just… ew ew ew ew ew. And it also skips over a lot of the subtext in the play, too.”

Sayaka sets down her mug with a thud and grins, smile bright on her face. It’s when the sunlight hits her, streaming through the window and illuminating her cyan-blue hair, that Mami wants to be someone to make her smile as glowing as that. “You mean that people think Hamlet and Horatio were in love?!”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!’

“I think the people who say that are right! Like… just look at the stuff they say to each other! For realz! Really tragic considering what’s happened with Ophelia and everyone else, though… Even if I like Hamlet and Horatio a lot, I still feel really bad for Ophelia.”

Mami recalls the paintings of Ophelia’s drowning, where she’s illuminated in bright flowers and gently floating down the river’s current. It wasn’t just the fate she got in the play, but it’s the fate she got after death—how tragic it was! That poor, poor girl, so beautiful and innocent even in death.

“Honestly,” Sayaka mumbles, “You remind me a lot of Horatio.”

Though her tea’s long past scalding point, Mami nearly spits it out. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you both seem really smart. Honestly, Horatio’s the smartest person in the play—and ‘cause you’re the oldest of us, you seem like the smartest!”

“Well—”

“You helped me with me geometry and didn’t cry! That’s smart!”  
Mami laughs. “Tell me more, tell me more.”

“You’re also really patient and loyal. Even after some of the stuff Hamlet says and does Horatio’s there to help him. He’s the one who tells him about the ghost ‘cause he trusts him so much. And you’re really patient with me even if I can be annoying sometimes, and you’re super loyal to me, and you’re really organized, and—”

Sayaka begins to stammer. Mami waits for her to finish

“—There’s something Hamlet and I have in common, actually.”

“Oh?”

“Well… if the whole thing they say about Hamlet and Horatio being in love is true… then… I guess that thing I have in common with Hamlet is that… I really, really, _really_ like you.”

Her face flushes pink and she starts giggling. Taking care not to knock over her mug, Mami reaches across the table to slip Sayaka’s hand into hers.

“I guess Horatio and I have another thing in common.” Mami smiles. “Because I really like you, too.”

Still giggling, Sayaka reaches over to dot a kiss on Mami’s nose.

“There’s one thing we don’t have in common with Hamlet _or_ Horatio. We’re not gonna be a tragedy. Things are getting better and being around you and just—just—everything makes me happy. We’re going to love and live and be happy.”

Tea forgotten, Mami brushes Sayaka’s bangs away to press a lingering kiss to her forehead.

“And if that’s the case, Miss Miki, I am truly glad.”

**Author's Note:**

> so i didn't really start out liking this ship tbh. i didn't HATE or dislike it, i was just pretty "meh" about it. and then for some reason it dawned on me: mamisaya is pretty friggin cute and they both deserve to be happy. hence this fic!
> 
> thanks for reading! please take care, and comments are always welcomed <3


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